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Text & photography by Errol Mason
This story was published in the Winter 2003 edition of Big Game Adventures
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Introduction
Sambar are the third largest of the deer species behind moose and wapiti. A native of India and Sri Lanka (Ceylon), sambar evolved through the millenium as prey of the tiger, leopard and dhole (wild dog) - a process which is undoubtedly responsible for developing qualities of intelligence, elusiveness and tenacity for which sambar are revered. Stags are burly, strong and tough with a thick hide and coarse wire-like brown hair. A mature stag can stand up to 5 feet at the shoulder and weigh over 700 pound. As sambar were introduced to Australia from India and Ceylon, I have used the traditional Hindustani terms employed when hunting sambar in those countries. Shikar means hunting game, big or small and a Shikari is the native expert or the European sportsman himself.
Range, Seasons & Bag Limits
Sambar occupy the breadth of the great forested mountains and foothills of eastern Victoria, an immense area encompassing 250 miles by 100 miles. They thrive where the forested foothills and farmland meet but do equally as well in the remotest depths of the great forested mountains. The range and number of Victoria's sambar population is steadily increasing providing easily the best hunting opportunities for free-ranging sambar anywhere in the world. What's more, as some sambar can be found in hard antler all year round and there is no closed season, sambar can be hunted 365 days a year and there are no bag limits.
Antler Quality
Whilst symmetry, massive beams and ornate pearling are qualities highly valued, perhaps for no other game animal is the mere tape measurement so poor an indication of the true value of the trophy. Nevertheless, Victorian sambar grow fine antlers with the Australian Deer Association Trophy Registrar having recorded well over one hundred stags with antlers 30" or longer which score 200 Douglas points or better. The record antlers for a stag harvested in Victoria measured 34 x 34 1 / 4 x 39 inch spread and scored 233 Douglas points. The antler quality of Victorian sambar is much higher than for sambar in the Cobourg Peninsular of Australia's Northern Territory where due to inadequate nutrition antler quality is poor.
Why Sambar Are Revered As A Game Animal
Sambar stags are elusive, cunning and nocturnal, moving in the low light of dusk and throughout the night but by the time the sun is up they have retreated to their beds at the head of some remote gully or half to three-quarters of the way up a steep face from where they keep careful vigil over their domain. While bedded a stag never truly relaxes for more than twenty seconds before peering about alertly, testing and retesting the thermals and ceasing cud chewing to listen intently with large bat like ears which swivel constantly in an endless search for danger. Bionic hearing is complemented by a super-sensitive nose equipping sambar with an all but impenetrable predator detection system.
When disturbed, a stag rises from his bed and silently moves behind cover where he waits to identify the intruder. If not threatened directly he will allow it to pass, or he may sneak quietly away, but if spooked he will explode away at the speed of a quarter horse, accompanied by an eruption of snapping sticks and branches lasting just a few seconds before giving way to total silence. Then, as if by magic this large animal simply vanishes.
The difficulty in hunting sambar has resulted in them being revered wherever they have been hunted throughout the world. Legendary hunters such as Samuel Baker and Jim Corbett considered sambar to be one of the world's finest big game animals. In India during the British Raj, sambar were a favourite quarry of British colonial hunters and now a virtual litany of passages revering sambar exists in books by these hunter/authors of a bygone era.
Perhaps the following by Dunbar Brander best sums up the qualities for which sambar are revered wherever they are hunted. Brander, who worked as a Forest Officer in India for over twenty years, was regarded as one of the greatest authorities in all that pertains to jungle and shikar lore in central India. In his classic Wild Animals in Central India published in 1923 he wrote that the eyesight of sambar is only moderate, but to compensate for this they possess excellent hearing and smell, senses which are constantly used for their very survival as they are one of the chief prey of the tiger and the wild dog, as well as having been constantly hunted by man from time immemorial. Sambar possess, Brander said, faculties and instincts of self preservation to a degree not attained by any other deer in the plains of India and can instantly act in a variety of different ways in order to avoid danger or to deal with an awkward situation. And in spite of being a common animal, in order to secure a really good specimen, the hunter will generally encounter more difficulty than in the case of any other deer or antelope.
After a guided hunt for this highly prized inhabitant of Victoria's high country, international hunter/author Scott Haugen summed up sambar like this. 'Take the cunning traits of the whitetail deer, the elusiveness of Columbian blacktails and the caginess of high-country mulies, and combine them with the superior instincts of elk. Now roll them into one species. What do you get? The ultimate alpine forest-dwelling deer; the sambar of Australia.'
Veteran Victorian sambar hunters also extol the virtues of sambar and argue that most other species of deer and other big game are incomparable with sambar. Hence, it is hardly surprising that in the context of 'difficult-to-hunt' sambar are arguably a greater prize than Africa's most desirable and most difficult-to-obtain trophies such as Derby eland, bongo and mountain nyala. Perfect blending of colour and habitat further increases the difficulty in hunting sambar and sambar do not roar or make any other sound or behave in any other way to assist the hunter. Rather, they employ a diverse range of cunning anti-predator strategies designed to outwit and at times completely overcome predators, including man.
Rifles and Cartridges
Sambar are big and strong and their toughness is legendary. Once alarmed their nervous system seems to be impervious to shock and they have a reputation for being hard to put down with anything less than precise bullet placement and appropriate bullet performance. I have a saying about sambar; 'bullet placement isn't everything, it's the only thing.' But precise bullet placement is not easy to achieve when the target is ploughing through understorey as it weaves between giant eucalypts like a runaway train. This is why all my hunting strategies are designed to enable the shot to be taken at an unalarmed stag that has no idea he is about to be harvested.
The .270 Winchester, .308, 30/06, 35 Whelen and larger, are all suitable calibres and will kill the largest sambar stag instantly with one precisely placed projectile. The most popular calibre amongst local hunters is that timeless workhorse, the 30/06. However, due to the sambar's reputation for being hard to put down, the more powerful cartridges from the 300 & 338 magnums, .35 Whelen, 9.3 x 62, .375 Holland & Holland right up to the venerable 404 Jeffery and .458 Winchester Magnum, regularly see service in our eucalypt forests. Nevertheless the best calibre is one that you can consistently shoot into one minute of angle or less, for this level of accuracy provides the best chance for a spinal shot at 300 yards. This is the only POI guaranteed to instantly drop a stag and the best projectile is one of modern hunting design that shoots MOA or better in your rifle. The ideal scope is a high quality 2.5 to 10 or 3 to 9 or similar variable with a 50 to 56mm objective lens capable of transmitting maximum light. An illuminated reticle with heavy European style cross bars is also the best.
Effective Strategies for Sambar
Walking-them-up, a method which attempts to track the stag and kill him in his daytime retreat is often unsuccessful. This is hardly surprising for the great forested mountains of eastern Victoria which sambar inhabit can be very steep and clad with eucalypt forest which varies in density from semi-open woodland to jungle. Also most hunters and many guides underestimate sambar and fail to realise that unless the conditions are perfect, 'walking-them-up' is usually unproductive. No other strategy stacks the odds more in the deer's favour. While bedded sambar have the huge advantage of using their acute hearing and smell to great effect. When stalking in the thick bush that sambar inhabit, the hunter inevitably breaks a stick, spooks a lyrebird, a kookaburra, a wallaby, a kangaroo, a dingo or other wildlife. Sambar could not wish for a more comprehensive and noisier alarm system.
To be consistently successful, the hunter must turn the tables so that the cards are stacked in his favour rather than the sambar's. He must lie in wait while the deer moves, not the reverse. I have found the most effective strategies for hunting sambar are the ones that have been proven performers on white-tailed deer throughout North America for decades. This is not surprising for in many ways sambar and white-tailed deer are very similar, the major difference being that sambar are almost as large as elk. Minimal impact or low disturbance hunting is the key. In the off season I scout to discover bedding and feeding areas and the trails linking them. Then I build improvised hides and treestands and sit and wait at dusk and dawn staying out of the deer's space as much as possible during the hunting season. From a vantage point I glass faces where I know deer are living and never intrude into their bedroom after I have ascertained the best place to observe and harvest a trophy stag.
A Most Memorable Sambar Shikar
One of my most memorable Shikars was for a mature stag whose favorite bedding area was in thick dogwood which cloaked the ridge and north face of a long spur which ran down to the Tambo River. The Tambo flows through the quite famous sambar hunting district of Tambo Crossing located in the great forested mountains of eastern Victoria. Various parts of this spur received sun from first light until it dropped below the ridge at dusk. Just once had I got a good look at this stag as he stood warily amongst the dogwood with a younger stag. Big of body he was alert, watching and listening with those large table tennis bat size ears. As he stood tall and proud on the opposite face, he occasionally tilted his muzzle skyward and tested the breeze. He was about 350 yards distant and through my 10 x 42 bino's I could see that his antlers were long in the beams but yet to grow their tops. If he's this alert while in velvet I pondered, he will be near impossible to approach once his testosterone level surges, hardening his antlers and stirring his loins. I considered how privileged I was to be able to study this superb specimen as he stood in the prime of life. This stag was really something special. He was truly magnificent but for now he was safe, for to kill him in velvet would surely be a sacrilege.
It was impossible to stalk him in any of his beds without alerting him and there was no vantage point from which I could glass into his morning beds. Scouting revealed that after midday he sometimes bedded in dogwood between the ridge and two thirds of the way down the north face. This face had been heavily logged many years before with just a scattering of large old knurled eucalypt trees remaining. Over several decades as the top half of this face became overgrown with two to three metre high dogwood, this place developed into the perfect bedding site for shy, elusive and solitary sambar stags.
I had pondered long and hard how I was going to guide a client to harvest this vigilant old stag short of hiring a helicopter to hover over his dogwood fortress. I concluded that my best chance was to glass the north face from the south face in the hope of catching him out in one of several partially exposed beds beneath one of the large eucalypts.
From what Bob Wilson of Sydney had told me of his shooting ability I was confident he was capable of taking this stag from the south face if we were lucky enough to catch him there. After arriving near the spot mid afternoon we changed into our hunting clothes and then slowly climbed half way up a steep spur. Pointing a wet finger skyward I checked the breeze and true to form it was blowing from the south-west and would carry our scent directly away from any wildlife on the north face or in the gully and south face below us.
Donning camo gloves and veils we descended through dogwood on the south face until we reached a game trail which contoured the face about halfway down. We proceeded at a snail's pace ensuring we didn't break sticks, disturb rocks or other wildlife. Constantly we halted and glassed the north face searching vainly for a bat-like ear or an ivory tip that with closer scrutiny might materialise into a stag. As usual, sambar were not obvious, but kangaroos which could betray us were. We spotted several on the north face sheltering under trees and dogwood. We crept along the game trail towards the gully head constantly glassing dogwood-free areas under the canopies of the large gums and other likely bedding areas.
As I did another sweep up the face suddenly, there he was - as magnificent and awe inspiring as any wild animal could be, bedded against the base of a huge old eucalypt. He was sitting up with just the front half of his body protruding from behind the trees thick trunk. He appeared to be looking straight at me. Those marvelous table tennis bat sized ears capable of detecting the faintest sound, although prominent, moved little. Ivory tipped antlers contrasted softly with the green dogwood tops. I turned to Bob who by now was also locked onto this magnificent wildlife pictorial which lay before us and together we soaked up a sight rarely seen by human eyes.
Satisfied that all was well the big old stag stretched his neck, resting its full length and his muzzle on the ground. He must have had a big night with the girls I thought. From this position he could no longer see us but sharp ivory tips protruding above the dogwood marked his position. I glassed widely around him searching for a sentry but could find none. We had found our quarry in a very sleepy state without even one vigilant hind to sound her voluminous alarm bark should danger loom. Diana was definitely smiling upon us this day.
Bob's nerve's were showing. Clearly he was moved by the sight - but what hunter wouldn't have been. While the stag rested Bob edged his way to the nearest tree for a rest. After increasing the magnification to nine power Bob tried to settle the crosshairs but the awkward position of the tree trunk, the sharp upward shooting angle, his still trembling nerve's and the great distance, which we agreed was close to 300 yards, all made for much too difficult a shot.
Again the stag sat up again and appeared to gaze straight at us. We froze. Had he spotted us. After looking in our direction for a minute or so he stretched his neck out once more. Again Bob raised his rifle but this time another obstacle became evident. He would be shooting through the crown of a dead tree and the risk of bullet deflection was too great.
With the stag lying outstretched and unable to see us we decided it was timely to back-track out and find a better position. Stealthily we climbed higher trying to get as directly opposite the stag as possible rather than taking a quartering shot from behind and below. We moved stealthily, mindful that a sambar stag has many sentries in the Australian bush. We were mindful that if we spooked a kangaroo, a wallaby, a wombat, an emu, a fox, a dingo or another deer, in one explosive leap the stag would have been swallowed up by dogwood.
Shortly we found a hole in the canopy which afforded an uninterrupted view to the sleeping stag. We were now almost directly opposite him and although Bob would still have to shoot upwards, the angle was much less. The stag sat up and again gazed about. To get directly opposite for a truly broadside shot meant crossing an opening, which although small, could betray us. I daren't risk it. Despite increasing the range by thirty or so metres to what was now at least 300 yards, we were now in a much better position for a shot.
Bob sat down and with elbows resting on knees he took a bead on the stag through a window in the canopy of a large eucalypt. I said, 'Bob there's no pressure from me for you to take this shot. The last thing we want to do is wound him. It's up to you. What do you think? Bob whispered, 'Errol, I know my rifle and l'm confident I can do it.' Bob knew that the 180gn Nosler Partition from his 30/06 would drop about eight inches at this range. After a minute or two of gazing about, listening and scenting, the stag again rested his outstretched neck and muzzle. Bob decided to go for a central neck shot which required a hold-over of about two inches as I knew from experience that the neck of a large stag is about fourteen inches deep. We reasoned that if he hit the spinal column in the neck it would most likely result in an instant kill while a hit in the lungs would probably result in the stag being wounded and lost in the sea of dogwood which surrounded him.
Over ten minutes Bob simulated taking the shot. His trick for precise shooting, which he learned when competing in the British Army Rifle Team, was to centre the crosshairs where he wanted to hit, take a deep breath and then release it and the moment it is expelled, re-align and squeeze the trigger. At this point the heart rate is at its lowest and you are the most relaxed.
'Take your time Bob', I whispered. Bob replied that his nerves had settled and he was now able to hold very steady and he was going to shoot. At 4.40pm, thirty-five minutes after first setting eyes on the stag, Bob fired. I could scarcely believe what I saw through the bino's. That grand old stag simply rolled onto his side without as much as a twitch and lay perfectly still. I whispered to Bob that I thought he was dead but Bob immediately reloaded and aimed for the heart in case he had merely stunned the stag.
One, two, then five tense minutes passed without the slightest movement from the stag, finally convincing us that he was indeed dead. I shook Bob's hand. We could scarcely believe that in the first hour of his Shikar Bob had taken one of the world's most difficult game animals and did so in such challenging circumstances.
Buoyed by our early success it didn't take us long to walk the kilometre or so round the gully head onto the north face and through the hundred or so yards of dogwood to where the monarch lay motionless. The Nosler had penetrated the spinal column in the centre of the neck severing the spinal cord and causing instant death. I shook Bob's hand again. What a fantastic shot - what a grand stag - what an unforgettable hunt. It is true that an expert guide can maketh the hunter, but it is equally true that an expert hunter can maketh the guide. However, if it were not for these splendid deer, neither guide nor hunter would exist, a sentiment never more eloquently expressed than in the following adaptation of a quotation penned three-quarters of a century ago by environmentalist and hunter Aldo Leopold and published in 'Southwestern Game Fields' c.1927.
'To the deerhunter, sambar are the inner meaning of Victoria's great forested mountains. Their presence or absence does not affect the outward appearance of the mountain country, but it does mightily affect our reaction toward it. Without deer tracks in the trail and the potential presence of deer at each new dip and bend, the great forested mountains would be, to the deerhunter, an empty shell, a spiritual vacuum'.
Conclusion
Everything considered, it is hardly surprising that in the context of 'difficult-to-hunt' many hunters regard sambar as being a greater prize than Africa's most desirable and most difficult-to-obtain trophies such as Derby eland, bongo and mountain nyala. Consequently, like these African antelope, the ghost-like sambar may also be the sole objective of a specialised Shikar with a specialist Shikari expert in their ways. And because they are so difficult-to-hunt multiple opportunities on one Shikar are rare. In other words, you can expect just one opportunity at a really good trophy so you, your rifle, scope and cartridge must be up to the task. And, furthermore, you can expect to get off just one well aimed shot and if you spook or wound him he will instinctively make for the thickest escape cover which will swallow him up in seconds. If you are thinking about going on your first Sambar Shikar I should warn you that you will not be able to go on just one for the magic of sambar will draw you back and back and back.
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